The Baker Institute's Presidential Elections Program held its second conference, “A Presidential Election in an Uncertain Time” in December 2019. Fellows Mark P. Jones and John B. Williams summarize the presentations and discussions of the many academics, campaign consultants, journalists, and other individuals who participated in the four thematic panels as well as a lunch conversation featuring political consultants James Carville and Mary Matalin.
In this report, author David Gantz continues his series on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) by discussing some of the changes adopted from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, including those relating to state-owned enterprises and special sectoral standards, which may have a major impact on North American trade.
This brief assesses the consequences of the Trump administration’s new policy on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, particularly within the context of past legal arguments and the stances of six previous U.S. presidential administrations.
In late November, Hong Kong's high court ruled that a government ban on face masks was unconstitutional. This brief analyzes Beijing's subsequent response that, if enforced, may signal the extension of unchecked central dictatorship over Hong Kong’s political apparatus.
The authors examine the varied approaches used by the U.S. and Iran during the ongoing nuclear negotiations, with particular emphasis on how each side approaches the Israeli-Palestinian arena and Iran’s entrenchment in Syria and Lebanon.
Mexico’s 2013 energy reform, which opened its hydrocarbon and electricity industries to private investors, increased the autonomy and independence of its regulatory commissions. However, recent decisions by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador now threaten these institutions, writes nonresident scholar Miriam Grunstein.
The USMCA will have potentially significant impacts for the textiles and apparel industry, but the free agricultural trade that is vital to all three NAFTA parties remains largely untouched, writes David A. Gantz.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has pledged to end corrupt practices in Mexico. Yet some of his other goals — such as returning to a more centralized government — might actually foster corruption. Postdoctoral fellow Jose Ivan Rodriguez-Sanchez explores this situation and analyzes the relationship between democracy and corruption in Mexico.
